


Should We Tell Him?

by Mars_McKie



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Developing Relationship, M/M, One-Sided Relationship, Past Relationship(s), Virgil is oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 08:27:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12767010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mars_McKie/pseuds/Mars_McKie
Summary: Virgil has always been oblivious when it comes to reading the signals. Scott and John find it hilarious to watch.A short collection of insights into Virgil's love life (minor spoilers for Home On The Range)





	Should We Tell Him?

1

It was Virgil’s 12th birthday and the house was full of pre-teens who were still in that happy age of being socially allowed to get high on fizzy drinks, sweets and not quite yet being a grouchy teenager. Jeff had long since left them to it and retired to get a scotch, ‘for his headache.’ Gordon and Alan tagged along as annoying little brothers were want to do, while John and Scott watched on with an aloof boredom. Kayo had left the room to watch cartoons.

The group were debating loudly what game they should play when one girl chipped in, “let’s play Spin the Bottle!”

Gordon and Alan both cringed while the group laughed. Virgil held out his empty coke bottle while the group hastened to form a circle. John, stood at the edge of the room with his arms tightly crossed, noted that the girl who had suggested the game was watching Virgil with an almost unblinking attentiveness. He nudged Scott with his elbow.

“Do you reckon she fancies Virgil?” John murmured so that none of the kids could hear him.

“Almost certainly,” Scott teased. “Virgil’s got himself an admirer!”

“Should we tell him?”

Scott turned wide eyed to John. “Oh Johnny, you’re too young to understand- you should never interfere in matters of the heart,” he said, sarcasm dripping off of every word.

John shrugged. “Don’t call me Johnny,” he said and turned his attention back as the game commenced before them. Fate -or rather a rigged spin- meant that barely a minute in and the girl got her desired virgin kiss with Virgil. John and Scott exchanged knowing glances, but Scott wasn’t going to mention that another girl in the ring had been eyeing up John in much the same way, hoping that he would join the game.

2

Summer spent on the family Gran Roca Ranch was usually filled with odd jobs around the place for Virgil, the designated engineer in the family. By the age of sixteen, he had already picked out what would go on to become his signature red lumberjack shirt with the sleeves rolled up as he worked to fix a car engine.

For the sake of getting away from Grandma’s cooking, Scott and John had taken two hoverbikes and followed Virgil to the home of their nearest neighbour (or as near as they could be considering they were in the middle of nowhere) who had asked for help getting their car working again. Scott and John hid up on the attic floor of the barn sipping lemonade as Virgil worked away on the engine below them.

“Hello, what have we here?” Scott murmured, glancing over the edge of their balcony.

As Virgil worked, the farmer’s daughter Annabel approached him with a pitcher of lemonade. She was the same age as Virgil; the Tracy boys were used to seeing her as the horse-loving young girl who tagged along with them each summer, yet at some point she had grown into a voluptuous teenager. She wore a short red lumberjack shirt in an obvious parallel to Virgil’s and denim hotpants with her boots, showing off tanned skin.

“We really shouldn’t pry,” John pointed out. Neither of them looked away.

Virgil gratefully accepted the drink. The two onlookers noted how she made sure her fingers brushed against his, how she tucked a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear and laughed at something he’d said. Textbook seduction techniques.

“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Scott muttered. John shook his head.

Virgil knocked back the lemonade, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, set down the empty glass and continued on the engine.

This clearly wasn’t what Annabel had hoped for. She leaned over the car so that her arse was practically hanging out of her tiny hotpants and her breasts strained against the tight shirt, cleavage peeking out where she hadn’t done up the buttons (from their vantage point, Scott enjoyed the view).

Virgil continued to work.

“Does he realise what she is offering him?” John asked Scott.

“I won’t tell him if you don’t,” Scott replied, as below Annabel was becoming clearly frustrated with Virgil’s obliviousness.

A snatch of conversation drifted up to them. “Would you hand me that screwdriver?” said Virgil.

“This screwdriver?” Annabel held up the screwdriver. Virgil nodded. “Well then... you’ll have to come and get it!” She bit the metal shaft as though it were a rose.

“My hands are full over here,” Virgil pointed out. Annabel huffed and stomped out of the barn. Virgil shrugged and struggled on with the car. Scott stood up.

“Please excuse me, I need to get a screw- I mean, that screwdriver back,” he said, making for the ladder.

3

It was a strange thing to see John away from his university these days. It was a very strange thing that he should be at a house party in Connecticut. Scott had summoned John and Virgil to Yale for spring break where he had then dragged them both along to crash a nearby house party.

For most of the evening, John had been huddled in a corner trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. Scott sauntered over to him, a beer in each hand.

“Here, get this in you,” said Scott, handing him a beer.

“How long do we have to be here before we can leave?” asked John.

“Give it a bit longer- I think Virgil might be enjoying himself,” Scott winked, taking John by the elbow and steering him towards the kitchen. There, leaning against the counter, Virgil was chatting with an attractive college bloke.

“Tall drink of water seeks Beefcake,” Scott commented to John, and they both grinned and swigged their beers. From his body language it was clear to see that the guy was flirting with Virgil, who for all parts seemed to be returning the attention.

“Perhaps if we leave him to it, he won’t notice if we leave?” John said hopefully.

At that moment, they heard Virgil say, “Well, it was great to talk to you. Have a good night,” and with a smile and a wave, Virgil walked away from the guy -who looked very disappointed at the sudden drop in conversation- and towards where Scott and John stood. “How’s it going?”

“Um, we’re fine... we see you’re making friends,” said John pointedly.

“Oh, yeah, that was Jared; he’s doing a Literature degree,” said Virgil. Behind him in the kitchen, a confused Jared drifted away dejectedly.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to be over there talking with him?” said Scott, his voice as heavy with meaning as he could make it.

“But I came here to hang out with you guys,” Virgil pointed out. Scott and John looked at each other, and Scott could only shrug.

“Have it your way.”

The party continued on into the night, until an hour later a drunken Virgil swayed in the middle of the living room as the music blared out of the stereo. As Scott and John watched, Virgil froze, a look of stunned realisation spread over his face.

“Fuck! He was offering to have sex with me!” Virgil exclaimed. Scott and John burst out laughing as Virgil disappeared into the crowd to find Jared.

4

Back at college in Denver, Virgil was developing an interest in his musical talents. He was already accomplished on the piano, and he had taken it upon himself to learn some new instruments. That was how he came to meet Andrew, his saxophone teacher. Though it was only after Gordon had visited and pointed out the attraction to Virgil that he had actually acted on it and they started dating.

Many miles away, Jeff inspected the Tracy bank accounts.

“Virgil’s been doing a fair bit of spending recently,” he commented to the room. Scott and John were sat in his office looking over plans for a space station while their father worked. “He must be almost on par with Lady Penelope's spendings!”

“I think he’s investing in learning some new instruments,” said John vaguely.

“Woodwind,” Scott muttered quietly so that only John could hear him. They both smirked.

Jeff frowned. “Investing being the right word. These are some strange companies he’s giving money to. He’d better not be in any trouble.”

“This is Virgil we’re talking about. He can handle himself,” Scott waved a vacant hand.

Jeff continued to look pensive before he strode from the room. Scott walked behind their father’s desk, inspected the accounts and gave a low whistle.

“Wow Virge...”

“Let me guess- he paid off the guy’s mortgage? Bought him a car?” John asked.

“Pretty much, and all the rest.” Scott ran a finger down the list of companies and shops. John walked over to join him.

“Do you think we should tell Virgil?”

“It would probably be a good idea to warn him that dad is about to sick a private detective on his arse,” Scott nodded.

“I meant should we tell Virgil that this guy in only interested in him for his money?”

Scott scowled and cocked his head. “I mean... it’s Virgil’s relationship. We shouldn’t meddle. So long as he doesn’t actually bankrupt Tracy Industries.”

5

It had been several months since any of the Tracys had last seen Virgil. Phone and holocomm calls went straight to voice mail and vacations home had been missed. The only one of them with an inkling of what was going on was Scott, the last of them to speak to Virgil before he had disappeared under the radar.

From what Scott could surmise, Virgil had a boyfriend -around Scott’s age- with whom he’d been on a couple of dates with and was going steady with. He’d sounded enthusiastic about the guy -named Will- and they'd been set up together by a mutual college friend. Anybody who was less of a dick than Andrew was a relief to Scott.

That had been the last time any of them had spoken to Virgil for more than a minute at a time. He always seemed to be busy, yet rarely for college work.

John went to Scott with his suspicions that all was not right with Virgil and was grateful that he wasn’t dismissed straight away.

“I agree, it’s all very odd,” Scott agreed after he had recounted all that he could remember about Will that Virgil had told him. “Virgil has holocomms in his apartment, right?” John nodded. “Any chance you could set it up so that we can see what’s going on without them seeing us?”

John raised an eyebrow. “You want to spy on Virgil?”

“Don’t pretend that wasn’t the reason you came to me for, looking for permission to spy on him,” Scott chided lightly and John grinned, putting his degree in telecommunications from Harvard to good use.

With some tinkering and reprogramming of Scott’s holocomms, they were rewarded with a view of Virgil’s living room sofa. There were inaudible voices in the background.

“There’s not a whole lot I can do to boost sound on this end,” John admitted, but it was unnecessary as a second later Virgil came into view on the holocomms. Both of the brothers’ jaws dropped. He’d put on weight since they had last seen him, his face tubby and his muscles flabby with not working out for some time. A large bruise was dark on the hologram around his left eye. As they watched, the guy who they presumed to be Will walked into the range of the holocomm. Their stomachs turned as the conversation turned sour and Virgil visibly cowered under the gaze of the older man.

Four hours later, Scott and John were parked in a rental car outside Virgil’s apartment. Neither of them had spoken much on the flight over and they stared at the modern building with a grim determination.

“We should have told him to leave this arsehole months ago,” said Scott, taking off his seatbelt.

“Agreed.” John opened the passenger door and followed Scott up the steps.

6

Virgil completed his time at college in Denver with a steel-like determination before moving out to California with the rest of the family where he worked as an engineer within Tracy Industries. He succeeded in getting back into shape and for all parts looked much healthier than when Scott and John had liberated him from his relationship with Will, but his problems now were more hidden.

For some time after the end of the abusive relationship, Virgil closed his heart off to the outside world. Gradually, he started going on a few dates again, but he was slow and timid and never made it to a second date with any of the guys he met. But he was still trying.

Two months on, Jeff made the decision to move the whole family to his island that he had been accommodating in the South Pacific, as part of his plans to form an International Rescue team. The announcement was made to Scott and John in his office and he would inform Virgil, Gordon (currently working for WASP), Alan and Kayo (both still studying) himself.

“I guess we’d better get packing,” Scott huffed. “I know this is what we’ve been training for this whole time, but leaving everyone behind is gonna suck.”

“Speak for yourself- I’m getting my own space station!” John stuck his tongue out and Scott glared at him. John knew Scott’s mood was only put on as he had finally succeeded in getting a date with Lizzie from Finance.

They left the elevator into the staff cafe area and John elbowed Scott, spying Virgil sat at a table with a blonde haired young man, two coffees between them.

“Business or pleasure, do you think?” John mused.

“Not unless Virgil has any business with a receptionist,” Scott laughed.

“Should we tell him about dad’s plans?”

Scott nodded. “It will probably come as a relief that he doesn’t have to try and meet anyone anymore.”

“And he’s been trying so hard to get back out there,” John’s face fell.

7

The family were slumped in the living room at the Gran Roca Ranch after a long, trying day. The reporter Kat Cavanaugh had been airlifted to hospital (and Scott had come away with her phone number) and drill sergeant Grandma Tracy had allowed them all to rest for the evening.

In the kitchen, Virgil was giving Brains a medical check over after his run in with the Mechanic. Brains showed no signs of physical harm other than a large bruise slowly blossoming on his chest where the mecha had pushed him back, though his stutter was more pronounced, as was his shaking as the adrenaline and shock left his veins.

After Virgil had inspected him, Brains buttoned his shirt back up and Virgil pulled him into a reassuring hug until the trembling had subsided. Brains clutched on to the back of Virgil’s shirt like a lifeline as he jabbered on about changes he would need to make to security into the large cushion-like chest. Anything to make him feel safe again.

Scott and John witnessed this from around the corner of the door frame before retreating back into the hallway.

“Bless them, they’re both so oblivious! Should we tell them?” John smirked.

Scott shook his head. “Give them another month.”

“You said that last year!”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a while that Virgil is oblivious when it comes to his own relationships and would need his brothers to point it out to him when someone is hitting on him (based off a friend of mine who is actually like this!)


End file.
